Best Cryptocurrency to Mine with CPU

July 13, 2019

A few years ago, you were able to mine Bitcoin using your CPU. But not anymore. Due to the increase in the difficulty of mining Bitcoins, the scale of mining has become too large for you to do it using a CPU at home. Bitcoins are now mined using complex hardware and software. But there are other cryptocurrencies which you can mine using a CPU. CPU mining has become very popular among people who want to test the waters before they go for mining hardware and software.

You can still earn Bitcoin using other cryptocurrencies by exchanging them at crypto exchanges. You need not necessarily mine cryptocurrencies to earn them. You can pay with any of the popular fiat currencies in the world and buy cryptocurrencies. But that doesn’t make it profitable unless there is a good increase in the value of the cryptocurrency in the future where you can sell and make a profit out of it.

What Is CPU Mining?

When you add transaction records to a cryptocurrency ledger using the CPU power of your computer, it is called CPU mining. The CPU on your computer provides the computing power to the operations performed by the software. CPUs have the capacity to quickly switch between one task to another which makes it possible for you to do different tasks in the computer without any waiting time.

For mining Bitcoins, there was a requirement for much faster switching of tasks which made it necessary for having more Arithmetic / Logic Units which was not available in the CPU. Hence the CPU was removed as a method for mining Bitcoins. Many other popular cryptocurrencies also cannot be mined profitably using CPU because of the high hashrate of the network. Though a higher hashrate is good for miners as there is more chance of mining coins, it cannot work with the CPU alone.

But this has not removed the possibility of earning cryptocurrencies using your CPU only. There are coins that can be mined profitably using the CPU. Here are some cryptocurrencies that can be mined profitably with a CPU:

The Best Cryptocurrency to Mine Using CPU

I assume you want to mine the most profitable cryptocurrency. So, the better way to rephrase the question is “what is the most profitable coin to mine with a CPU?”. Before we determine the most profitable coin to mine with a CPU, it is important to identify the 3 types of miners in the crypto world:

Miners that mine cryptocurrency in the short term for a quick buck.

Hodlers (Those who mine cryptocurrency and hold it to sell at very high prices)

Miners that support the network.

Most Profitable Coin to Mine with a CPU in the Short Term

If you mine cryptocurrency and sell it as you earn, you are mining cryptocurrency for short term profit. Your goal is to find the most profitable coin to mine with a CPU, mine it and sell it.

It is important to understand that almost any coin is mineable with a CPU. But we don’t want to mine just any coin. We want to mine the most profitable coin with a CPU.

Any coin that is profitable to mine with a CPU or GPU has to be ASIC resistant. ASICs are specialized hardware devices designed to do just one task. That is to generate hashes. Hence it is powerful and efficient than any GPU or CPU.

A cryptocurrency being ASIC resistant doesn’t always mean it is profitable to mine with a CPU. You still have to compete with GPUs. Some ASIC resistant cryptocurrencies are more profitable to mine with a GPU, while others are more profitable on CPUs. As of now, cryptocurrencies using the following algorithms are still profitable to mine with a CPU:

CryptoNightR

CryptoNightHeavy

It is important to understand that any coin that is still profitable to mine with a CPU can become unprofitable if someone develops an ASIC. This is what happened to CryptoNight algorithm that favored CPUs over GPUs.

You can find coins using CryptoNightR algorithm here and CryptoNightHeavy algorithm here. To find the most profitable coin to mine with a CPU, you must use a mining calculator. Calculate the profitability of each of these coins and find the most profitable coin to mine with a CPU.

Monero uses CryptoNightR algorithm. I will use Monero mining profitability with a CPU as an example. To calculate Monero (XMR) profitability, I use WhatToMine Monero Calculator. After entering the hash rate of CPU, power consumption of mining setup, electricity cost, and pool fees, I hit calculate. I will be presented with the estimated mining profit:

Click to enlarge

Mining Cryptocurrency with a CPU and Profiting in the Long Term

You can also use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency now and sell it at a higher price in the future. If you are a miner of this type, you aren’t worried about short term price fluctuations and expenses associated with mining. Your goal is to accumulate as much as crypto with your CPU and sell it later. Your hope is that the price of cryptocurrency will appreciate in the future, enabling you to recoup all costs associated with mining, plus a nice profit.

Selecting the right cryptocurrency to mine is the difficult part. No one can guarantee if a cryptocurrency is going to appreciate in the future or not. But, if you are willing to bet on the price of a cryptocurrency and willing to take a risk, it can be more profitable than short term profit.

So, you may ask, what is the most profitable cryptocurrency to mine with a CPU to sell at a higher price?

I would consider Monero (XMR) to be one of the best coins to mine with a CPU. Monero developers are committed to maintaining its ASIC resistance to make this coin more egalitarian and only mineable with CPUs and GPUs. Given Monero’s popularity and technology, it is likely to appreciate in the future.

However, this is just my subjective opinion. It is not mining advice. You must do your own research and mine cryptocurrency that has the highest potential.

At this point you may wonder, is it more profitable to buy cryptocurrency and hodl rather than just mine? Check out this article where we answer that question.

Conclusion

The best cryptocurrency to mine is the one that is most profitable. Since profitability changes all the time, there is no one cryptocurrency that is most profitable at any given time. You must mine the coin that is most profitable at the moment. You can either mine with a CPU for short term profit or HODL these coins to sell at higher prices in the future. This article shows you how to do it.